Mike,

>Hopefully, XHTML will do this by being rather strict, and weed out a bazilion crappy websites in the process.

The problem with forcing a conversion to XHTML (comply or don't be shown) is that very few people are going to use a browser that automatically eliminates 98% of the world's websites. Maybe you and a handful of other principled developers will do it, but you'll probably have to keep reverting back to "compatibility mode" when you need some info from a non-compliant site.

I just don't see how the conversion will happen anytime soon, if ever. Sure, programmers will love the fact that XHTML helps iron out differences between browsers (that's a big assumption right now), but until some overwhelming incentive appears and the majority of the tool vendors go to it, it's just stuck in limbo.

Maybe you can lead the crusade...